Saddled with Death

When murder isn't her only problem. It's 1873 on the Murray River and while Emma is well aware that death is just part of life's process, helping her friend Bea nurse her terminally ill mother on their neighbouring sheep station wasn't supposed to be accompanied by murder.

But was it such a surprise? The tensions among extended family members should have been a warning, and despite their desire to blame horse thieves for the death they're the ones with the motives.

So when Margaret Macdonald fears her husband may be the killer and begs Emma to investigate, how can she possibly refuse the dying woman? After all, granting Margaret a last wish is the least she can do to put her mind at ease as to the fate of her family.

But then Matty calls in that old promise to please his mother and Emma panics, staring into the deepening pit that is her foreseeable future. So when her probing into the murder brings a deadly reaction it's almost a relief to have something else to focus on. Namely, whether she'll survive to have a future at all